Sexual health in Parkinson's disease

The changes in sexual health of patients with Parkinson’s disease must be a concern to the clinicians. The effects of functional surgery in sexual health of Parkinson’s patients are still a matter of debate. Our objectives are to describe and evaluate the sexual health of patients with Parkinson’s disease following deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN).

Patients with Parkinson’s disease bilaterally implanted for DBS of STN and those only pharmacologically treated, will be evaluated. Sexual functioning will be assessed using the International Erectile Function Indices (IEFI) and the Female Sexual Function Indices (FSFI). Depression and anxiety will be evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Brief Symptom Inventory.
We have a control group with 23 normal volunteers, a group with 19 Parkinson patients only pharmacologically treated, and a group with 20 Parkinson’s patients bilaterally implanted for DBS of STN. Control group have higher somatization index (p<0,05), pharmacologically treated group have higher somatization and phobic anxiety indices (p<0,05), surgery group have higher obsessive-compulsive, phobic anxiety, and psychoticism index (p<0,05). BDI score was 20,23 in cirurgy group (p<0,001). IEFI have was lowest in cirurgy group (26,3; p<0,05). FSFI was higher in the cirurgy group (44,0; p<0,05). The sexual function of Parkinson patients is globally impaired. When submitted to surgery, women report an improvement and men impairment. Patients submitted to functional surgery have a different psychopathological profile.